Caught
by Itssostrangehere
Summary: Alex is captured. Nothing new about that, but his captors are...far from the usual to say the least.
1. Prologue

Prologue: 

The thumping and creaking of a body being dragged down the stairs, permeated my concrete prison. I could hear my captor struggling with the dead weight, it was so loud it woke me from my previous unconscious stupor. T he door was flung silently open and a body was thrown in with me, I didn't observe anything about the body. The world around me went cold and dark again.


	2. Cement Floors arent Pleasant

Cement Floors Aren't Pleasant: 

Run. Run. Run.

The burn in my thighs and pounding in my head was becoming unbearable. The cold dry air stung as my lungs desperately gulped the oxygen I needed to continue my flee for freedom. I turned a sharp corner and barely caught myself as slick black ice rushed beneath my feet. The frigid, black alley smelled of mold and long dead creatures of unknown decent. Recovering, escape route a massive bear of a man appeared from the shadow of a nearby dumpster slamming into me and forcing me into the building across. My head flew back from the force of the collision knocking me out before I had time to realize much more than it was beginning to snow and there was no way I'd be home in time for Christmas dinner with Jack.

Waking up to an ice cold cement floor isn't ever a pleasant experience. Not that I'm complaining, not waking up at all would surely rank above cement floors. But honestly, shouldn't multi-million dollar illegal agencies be able to afford a cheap mattress for their top captive? _But noooo_, It's always all about making the poor British teenage super spy suffer. I mean I don't even do anything to deserve their hatred…other than spoiling their plans of world domination and destruction…

Momentarily done with that train of thought I set about observing my surroundings. It wasn't hard since the room consisted of 4 solid cement walls, a single light bulb in a cast iron cage, and a blue plastic bucket. No weapons, no escape, and no sleep…_Oh joy _.

So I sat and waited for my opportunity to arise. After hours and hours of my silent vigil, my eyes closed and I ventured off to dreamland. Dreams full of blood and gore and pain, but nothing different than normal.

I awoke leaning against the freezing wall in what seemed like minutes. The sounds of the men outside the cell door yelling and struggling are what had awoken me. Quickly standing I mentally prepared myself to fight free. What I didn't expect was sudden silence and the sounds of four bodies hitting the ground moments later. The door silently swung open revealing four armed men in varying degrees of hilarious attire carrying one man each.

They weren't overly large men but they were all garbed in the same boring clothes. Tight black shirts, army issue combat pants, and black boots. However I could not say the same for the set of clowns that were supposed to pass as guards. Scrawny chicken legged fellows they were, not an ounce of meat nor muscle to be seen. One was wearing what had to be a purple wig, the other a cape with what appeared to be a bazooka attachment, and the other two garbed in clothes similar to the unconscious men they were carrying.

They threw them in, and left. God help us all, I was stuck in an eight by eight concrete block with K-Unit. Question is, how long will it take for us to kill each other?


	3. Not Long

Sorry guys! My couch ate my notebook with my story in it, but chapters should resume as normal now. =]

_How long would it take for us to kill each other?_

* * *

Not Long. I would probably go ninja killer on all their asses any second now. Eagle had decided to give poor Cub a hug, but before he could do that he pushed all the other K-unit members nearly on top of me and proceeded to tackle the group of us to the ground. Not smart.

With the collective deadweight of the four muscular SAS men lying on top of me I could barely breathe. The squirming of the men on top of me was barely registered as I fought to get my breath but that feat was quickly stunted by the realization that someone's deadly smelling armpit was firmly pressed against my nose and mouth. Quickly trying to force my way out from under the massive pile of SAS meat I was currently buried by, my head met the wall meaning there was no escape. I quickly drew my breath and yelled in my most Drill Sgt. Like voice, "Get off me now!" Then, like the good little soldiers they are they vacated my vertical space and stood facing me, I stood with my back near the wall for obvious reasons. Armpit man was Snake; he had some serious B.O. issues.

"Well, what an unexpected surprise. Why, may I ask, are you numb balled buffoons here?" Ah yes, wonderful snide remarks are coming back to me now. Wolf was most likely mad enough at that remark to hit me but I was confident that if he did he'd be on the endangered species list. "Well?" Still no answer, did they get their brains removed?

"Cub?" Yes, this was one of the elite forces protecting Britain coming up with obvious one word questions, unbelievable.

"Who else? Now care to enlighten me on why the hell you are here?"

"We were kidnapped Bubble Boy, we should be asking you why the _hell _you are here. Not the other way around, as it seems to be going now." Gracing Wolf's question with a distracted, "Same."

The whole unit then lapsed into a momentary silence then, like clockwork, they all began to waste useful energy on useless tasks such as banging on the door, yelling at inanimate objects, and kicking the solid concrete and steel walls. The only exception, I realized after a moment, was Ben who quietly walked over and took a seat near where I stood which was far enough away to give us time to react should one of them throw one of the few objects in the room or decide to hit one of us.

After minutes of this wasteful time Wolf glanced over and happened to notice our apparent state of calm. Unfortunately he decided it was necessary to hop over and yell at us for being lazy bums. This remark got his legs knocked out from under him and earned him a nice headache.

"You're the leader of K-Unit. In that position it is your responsibility to tell your team to step down because, in case you haven't noticed there is no escaping this room until they open that door. That," he waved his hand toward Eagle and Snake, who were now staring at him awestruck, "Is pointless."

Taking a breath to soothe my firing nerves I realized I was proud of myself for stringing that many words together after so many months of near total silence. I relaxed more when a shocked and bewildered Wolf waved a waiting Snake and Eagle to sit down on the cold cement floor where Ben and now Wolf were residing. Snake and Eagle slowly and gracefully sat down wary of the child who had just defied their leader and perhaps had even taken some of Wolf's confidence with it.

Then, silence reigned for hours.


	4. Willy Wonka and the Combat Oompa Loompas

A/N I won't even begin to explain why I've left you waiting so long for this chapter.

_Silence reigned for hours._

Then, one by one the exhausted members of K-unit drifted off into an uneasy sleep. About an hour after Ben, the last to fall asleep, the single dim light bulb turned off plunging their cell into a thought consuming vortex.

I thought of ways to get out, which were unusually few in number and originality, and I thought , with bitter humor, that I was missing Jack's first homemade Christmas Dinner.

Normally, that thought would have been taken gratefully but, Jack started taking cooking lessons after she set the kitchen ablaze while cooking pork tenderloin for a date of hers. Having to grovel to the tyrannous Royal and General for funds to purchase a new stove, fridge, counter tops, and cabinets, drove the point home. She'd enrolled in three different cooking classes by the next week.

I abruptly ended this train of thought as I realized I was loosing track of time, how long had my mind wandered? One minute, or was it five? Perhaps it was longer than that? Either way, it didn't matter, the ignorant, oddly dressed captors would be back eventually.

Then, with the stomping of combat boots from outside the door Alex knew he had thought too soon. He violently kicked the sleeping men awake, possibly kicking Eagle square in the groin, earning him many shouts of disapproval and pain in the pitch dark. When I mentally reviewed my actions I realized that waking up to pitch black in an unknown environment in such a violent manner, wasn't something they were used to.

"Sorry, but shut up and listen" was my whispered apology. Heart touching , warm, and fuzzy, right?

The door to our cell was then violently thrust open and 4 LED flashlights flooded our cell with light, making us all squint and shield our eyes. A moment later the tallest, scrawniest man stepped forward and began to speak.

"As you all may, or may not, have gathered," he spoke quite richly, and very loudly, though the next part was mumbled through, something along the lines of "Or not considering the IQ level in here" which had Eagle bristling for a fight.

"You have been brought here for the interrogation purposes of Mr. Alex Rider. Alex, please raise your hand and say hello to your new classmates."

The man stepped into the light provided by the three other flashlights and I observed this over theatric man carefully before replying. His hair was purple, styled into a distracting Mohawk, and he was wearing a purple trench coat similar to what I imagine Willy Wonka wearing. Making my decision I stood.

"Hi, my name is Charlie Bucket of cabbage soup, I assume you are Willy Wonka of Willy Wonka Chocolate factory? I want my god damned golden ticket now."

Showing an unusual sense of humor Willy Wonka laughed, "Oh goodness, Starbright really didn't give you enough credit."

My blood turned to ice.

"Ah, that seems to have gotten your attention, no worries, we took care of her."

The bastard closed his eyes and hummed in appreciation. I pounced. I busted his lip, broke his nose and a few ribs, and killed his ability to procreate before the other three beat me blue with their flash lights. It was like a bloody rave, all the light bouncing off the walls and the bodies pounding together, it created quite a strobe light effect. And all the while, K-Unit sat there. Then it was over, I lay on the ground grasping for breaths and Willy Wonka began speaking again.

" Do that again Rider and we start killing your friends here, starting with the damn MI6 agent." Willy Wonka turned to leave but added right before he closed the door, "You'd better decide who you like least little Alex, we'll take good care of you if you give us the answers."

With that the door was slammed shut and the lighting returned.

(A/N I really thought about ending it here)

I drug my bruised self over to the wall, silently refusing the help of Snake and Ben. Leaning against the wall breathing came easier, and with breathing came clearer thoughts.

Was it possible Willy Wonka was lying? Jack wasn't trained in sustaining torture, how long could they possibly have had her? Ten hours? Twelve? Something about that final thought clicked and he knew Jack wasn't worrying about him because he was late for dinner. He knew she wasn't sitting in the Royal and General crying as Jones told her Alex was missing. Alex knew, Jack was dead.

Hot tears burned behind his eyes and he stuffed his hands inside his sweatshirts' pocket discovering, amazingly, Jacks' Christmas present, the whole reason he had been out on Christmas Eve. The Christmas present wasn't anything that could be useful,but Alex held it in his hands and just stared at it. It was the CD Jack had been dyin- no, begging, for since it came out. She had felt bad buying it for herself, which Alex didn't understand. He assumed of course it was MI6's fault and he furiously threw the now offending CD into the wall opposite him. Then he heard the voices of K-Unit a bit frantic, had they been talking to him?

"Cub snap out of it!"

"Earth to Cub…"

"The space ranger has landed!"

Three guesses who said what, and who said nothing at all.

"What the hell do you fuck monkeys want?" was my generous reply.

Eagle started in with the most questions, "Are you insane? Who's Starbright? Does that bruise hurt? Why were you kidnapped? Do your parents know you're missing you think? Have you ever kissed a girl? Who do you hate most? Are they holding you for ransom? Are you really Charlie Bucket?"

I didn't want to answer, not at all, but decided it might be best to end his streak of questioning before he drove us to hanging ourselves with our shoelaces, which, isn't such a bad idea anymore.

"Eagle! No. None of your business. What do you think fucktard? Why should I know? No. Yes. You. I doubt it. FUCK NO. Now shut up I answered all of your questions. I'm going to sleep."

I rolled onto my side, painfully, and sleep over took me quickly.

"_Jack! Hey, I'm going out, over to Tom's to give him his Christmas present. What time should I be back for your special dinner?" I yelled down the stairs while throwing Tom's present of a Weird Al CD and a Chuck Norris tee shirt into a plain red bag then stuffing white paper in to it haphazardly. In all reality, I'd given Tom his present yesterday, at the pitch, after a bitterly cold game of football. But after I'd realized that I had to buy Jack the last of her present Tom had come up with the idea of me giving him his gift again, to get out of my house, in exchange for sugar cookies from Jack._

_Once the faux present was sufficiently wrapped I ran down the stairs and into the kitchen, it smelled heavenly. "God Jack, thanks for learning how to cook. I'm starved, can I take some of those sugar cookies with me?" He smiled devilishly and Jack pointed to a small plastic container already full of cookies. _

"_Thanks Jack" and I turned to go out the door. _

"_No Alex, thank YOU"_

_I turned back to Jack only to see her covered in black and blue bruises, her nose bleeding, and many cuts on her arms were too. _

"_Jack…Oh god, what happened?" I sprang for the phone but before I could reach it the room spiraled into black. It was like falling down a bottomless pit, then I hit the bottom and pain consumed me. Once I was done writhing in pain in pitch black of this hole I looked up into the dark then, Jack appeared beneath a spotlight a bullet hole between her eyes, "It's your fault, you know. If I'd never met you I'd still be alive! I could be married! I could have had kids! You ruined my life!"_

_I was spun away to face Yassen Gregorovitch, a bullet hole in his chest. "I died for you! To better your life! I told you to do one thing! Have you never learned to honor the dead? "You ungrateful brat! " He roared to me. _

"_Alex"_

"_Alex!"_

_My name echoed around me in this hell as Tom was put under the spotlight, his neck at an unnatural angle._

Then, I was shaken awake. I reacted and grabbed the wrist of my captor and twisted mercilessly. Then, I realized it was not my enemy, it was Ben.

"Oh, god" I slid myself away from Ben who was now cradling his clearly broken wrist.

"What the hell was that Cub?" Wolf was yelling at me and I just shrugged. Which, of course, made him more irate. He grabbed my shoulders and began to violently shake me,

"Hey, yeah, remember me? I'm your Unit Leader _you_ listen to _me._ Now, tell me what the fuck is going on in that stuck up, rich, juvenile delinquent, head of yours! Come on! You broke the wrist of an _essential_ part of my team! Why? Because you can't sleep without your thousand dollar mattress and mommy to tuck you in? Well suck it up, there is no other option. You'll kill us all."

The last words are what hit me the deepest, those last words are what made me stand up and tell Wolf what he apparently needed to know. I began in a deadly calm voice, with an emotionless mask upon my face.

"Hi. I'm Alex Rider. I'm 15 years old and an unofficial, unpaid, blackmailed agent for MI6. I've possibly saved your life 5 times this year, but you don't know me for it. No one will." My voice began to rise in anger.

"My parents died in a plane explosion when I was a year old. Custody of me was given to my uncle who, as of last year, is also dead. He's trained me into this business since I could crawl." He ended this statement with a note of disgust and continued.

"So, _no_, Wolf. If you must know, I did not break the wrist of a man on _your_ team just to spite you. I did it because I was expecting a murder attempt, a kidnapping attempt, because of what I've done to save your ungrateful ass, and others just like you, eight times this year. Now, shut the _hell _up and hold your tongue about what you good and god damned well don't know." There was not a sound to be heard in the cell.

"Who's Jack? Your uncle, you were screaming his name in your sleep." Eagle said. I barely resisted the urge to punch him in the face. I was not going to tell them who Jack was. I was worried though, about what else I had screamed.

Just then, the door to our cell swung open revealing Willy Wonka and his combat Oompa Loompa's. Never in my life had I been so glad to see a sadistic murderer grinning at me and asking, "Well, little Alex. Your decision, who's first?"

A/N – Inspiration has returned! 1,900 words!


	5. Quiet Mouse

""_Well, little Alex, your decision. Who's first?"_

I had forgotten about that. I paused. I scuffled my shoes. I appeared to be in deep thought. I really wasn't, I was thinking of a way out of his trap of words.

"I'm supposed to choose who I like least, right?" I asked slowly as if I was weighing the characteristics of each man in K-Unit.

Willy Wonka nodded in the positive.

"Well, no man on this team particularly holds any favor of mine, but give me a moment to think and I'll choose." I ran my hand through my hair slowly, thinking, as every captive man in the cell blanched.

Willy Wonka motioned to hurry along.

"Ok I've decided."

Willy Wonka looked delighted and motioned his guards ready for a fight, and I became silent. Willy Wonka looked at me eagerly, waiting for me to provide him a name, a look, anything, so long as he could torture him.

"Well, who'll it be?" He was impatient. It'd only been a moment or so.

"I bet you never were any good at quiet mouse, were you?" I pondered aloud.

His face twisted in confusion, "What? I'm not following you. Damn spies…" he went into mumbles about cryptic spies and decoding games in magazines.

He was snapped out of his internal debate by the _crunch-crunch_ of one of his guards' automatic weapons. I looked around the room wondering who had moved enough to trigger a response. It had been Ben, his wrist wasn't properly set and was causing him, no doubt, much pain. He had raised himself with one hand to prop himself further up against the wall, to give himself a better place to rest his wrist. I should know, I'd been there plenty of times.

"Oh calm down Santiago, don't be so jumpy. Nimwit." Willy Wonka scolded. "Now Alex, choose who you like least, we will take care of them for you."

"Fine." I took a deep breath. "The man I like least in this room," I took a deep breath hardly believing what I was about to say,

(A/N I was going to end it here, but inspiration struck me like the woman on the V8 commercials.)

"Is me."

Willy Wonka just stood there, silent, confused.

K-Unit sat behind me relieved for themselves, possibly worried for me.

The Oompa Loompa clan's eyes opened to the size of dinner plates in disbelief.

Then, there was me. Silent, resigned to endure the torture. I knew his tactic of having me choose a member of K-Unit was psychological torture. That if I did choose one, they would be brought back dead, but if I chose myself I would be brought back alive. You don't kidnap someone just to kill them before you get what you want. They wouldn't get information from me, they wouldn't break me, and what else do psychopaths want? I was safe, for now.

"That wasn't an option!" Willy Wonka's too senile for tv's voice yelled.

"Then you should better phrase your questions, I am who I like least in this room. Though I should choose you, I doubt you would fall for something that blatant."

Willy Wonka went back to murmuring to himself and, moments later, his internal debate was over.

"Take him to Rupert."

The guard closest to him immediately hit me on the temple with the butt of his gun, and black consumed me.


End file.
